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Le Docteur l'Indienne (1770s-1829)
AKA Francois Lafage (Malouin, Marois)
AKA Francois Lafage (Malouin, Marois)
“Docteur l'Indienne” was a snake-oil peddler along Quebec City's south shore. His nickname probably came from the fact that he wore a long robe in the manner of Indian women. He had long hair and tied a scarf around his head with a knot in the middle of the forehead.
In 1824, the doctor served a first sentence in the Quebec City Common Gaol after attacking and raping a man in Lévis. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail with one stint in the pillory. The population took pleasure lobbing rotten eggs at the “sodomite”. He escaped from gaol and moved further up the south shore to Saint-Jean-Port-Joli. After cheating many locals, he was taken in for questioning following the murder of Francois Guillemette. The court proved he had killed the man with a hammer. The doctor was sentenced to death and hanged in 1829 on the Gaol premises, now transformed into the Morrin Centre.
Over 30 years after his execution, the gravity of Docteur l'Indienne's crimes was revealed when 12 human skeletons were found buried in the basement of his former home.
In 1824, the doctor served a first sentence in the Quebec City Common Gaol after attacking and raping a man in Lévis. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail with one stint in the pillory. The population took pleasure lobbing rotten eggs at the “sodomite”. He escaped from gaol and moved further up the south shore to Saint-Jean-Port-Joli. After cheating many locals, he was taken in for questioning following the murder of Francois Guillemette. The court proved he had killed the man with a hammer. The doctor was sentenced to death and hanged in 1829 on the Gaol premises, now transformed into the Morrin Centre.
Over 30 years after his execution, the gravity of Docteur l'Indienne's crimes was revealed when 12 human skeletons were found buried in the basement of his former home.
© 2010  Literary and Historical Society of Quebec All rights reservedPhoto: The Prison in 1830 (James Pattison Cockburn, ANC) Contact: info@morrin.org |